The internet has become a pervasive medium through which both commercial and personal users can communicate information targeted at a particular audience. An internet user has the ability to access a vast amount of information that is of interest to that user. For example, a user having an interest in the stock price of a particular company can access any of a multitude of pages available on the World Wide Web that provides stock price information to the user. A user interested in the final score and highlights of a particular sporting event can access a site on the internet that contains sports scores and highlights of the desired game.
Access to the internet for the purpose of retrieving or sending information is typically done using a desktop computer. Accessing internet information using a desktop computer is inefficient because it makes the desired information available to the user only at a relatively permanent, central location. A user cannot readily take their desktop computer with them during travel.
The use of traditional mobile computer systems, such as, for example, laptop and notebook computers, improves the portability of the internet access device, while maintaining a significant portion of the speed and features provided by desktop computer system. Internet access via a traditional mobile computer while the user is in transit, however, can be awkward and unreliable. The wireless modem communication required to transfer Internet information to a mobile computer is currently both slow and unreliable, and, in addition, traditional mobile computers can be heavy, fragile, and inconvenient for use in a transit situation.